Suffocating Moon Temple
Suffocating Moon Temple is one of the final two stages in the original Super Mario Shining Stars. Located in the Shine Tower, Mario requires 110 stars to open the door to this stage as well as Searing Sun Temple. To get here go into the Third overworld and open the big doors under the portrait of a Boo. The course number with a small picture of a moon and a sun on each side on the wall. In this cramped room take the left pipe and Mario is now on the moon. This is a small level which appears to be a small fortress. The lowest part of it has a lack of air, and Mario's health will diminish quickly. While the level is not terribly large, figuring out where to go is not the easiest task. The Whomp King apparently decided that this would make a good fortress to hide in from Mario. Layout The temple walls form a square boundary atop the grey moon. In the middle of the great castle walls is the dangerous surface of the moon as well as floating platforms which are safe to walk on. Towards the surface of the moon as well as some of the lower platforms are shrouded in a fog, representing the lack of air on the planet. The only areas under the fog is a couple of rocks, some sloped platforms which lead above the fog, and the cratered surface of the moon below. The rock Mario starts on quickly leads to blue "bubbly" bridge. From the top of the platform Mario can reach the wall that surrounds the level. In the middle of the quicksand surface is a spire that leads to a floating island which contains a giant slanted wall. Missions: Star 1: Suffocating Smash Party Mario must battle the Whomp King who is hiding somewhere in the stage. It is very easy to miss the King while exploring the level. This isn't due to his location being hard to find, but due to the fact that the platform looks very empty since the King does not render unless you are on his platform, so there is no point of looking there. The rock he is on is actually very close to the start. Follow the blue path until there you reach a division with a spinning heart in the middle. There should be a ramp on both sides of Mario and a continuation of the path going forward. There is also a rock straight ahead, where the Whomp King lies. Before Mario lands on the arena, make sure to long jump into the spinning heart so you your health stays at full for as long as possible. The fight is the same as the original one, but with the life draining mist active. Due to the sheet speed of how fast Mario loses life, it is highly recommended to clip through the Whomp using your Ground Pounds (Ground Pound as the Whomp is falling to clip through it and hit his weakness). Once Mario hits it three times the star spawns in the middle of the arena. Star 2: Breathless Race Koopa the Quick wants a rematch on the moon of all places! You can look for the location with the flag first if you want, but it is not that far away, though one wrong turn means you pretty much lose the race. Koopa is directly behind Mario when he enters the stage. Accept his race and run across the blue floor. Once at the Spinning heart in the middle of the multiple paths, turn right and go up the slope. The top of the path looks like it disappears, but there is a slightly low rock which can be used to reach a high blue path (which you can only see the Spinning Heart and coins on above). Mario can actually jump through this, so no need to worry about hitting your head. Follow this path to a floating rock with the flag in the center. Koopa runs very slow and finishes around 47.5 seconds, allowing for mistakes. He takes a steep slope (which can reached by following the blue path past the Whomp King) to reach the top. Mario can also take this path if he can slope kick. Star 3: Rock Slide Range This is the first (and harder) of two stars on a floating area above the center of the moon. To reach the upper area Mario must climb up a spire in the quicksand. He can reach it by either using the shell and walking up or long jumping from one of the walls of the outer wall. Once on top look for the giant sloped wall with the star at the end. Jump over the sloughs of quicksand and find the dark portion of the path that goes on the wall. The wall itself is not steep, so Mario can easily run along the path, avoiding the fire, to reach the star. The blue under the path is quicksand, so do not touch it. Star 4: Airless Red Coins Using the Koopa Shell, Mario must collect the 8 red coins scattered around the moon. The Shell is located in a small grey pillar. You may have noticed it when racing Koopa the Quick. Take a right at the Spinning Heart. Once at the top jump at the grey pillar and just to the higher blue platform where there is a spinning heart. Floating near it is another grey pillar that has a metal box in front of it with the Koopa Shell. You can also jump to it from the wall. All the coins are in craters under the poison mist, which proves a challenge. Using Lakitu cam provides slightly more vision than in Mario cam, though both are not particularly helpful. Three of the 8 coins are on top of a slope (which is light blue unlike the darker color of the rest of the sand), which is where Mario climbs to reach the upper area. This area is not only easy to skip since it looks like a boundary, but there is very slight vertical fold at the top which will make Mario lose his shell if he does not jump over it. This an area where Mario can access a Spinning Heart of yellow coins to refill his health. Also remember that Mario can jump through the blue platforms to get on them and runs through them without crashing. Once Mario collects all 8 coins, the star appears at the start...which can not be accessed with the shell easily. The best way is to dismount on the swirling spire and backtrack to the start. Star 5: The Exterior Wall Get to the Blue Path and take the left slope at the Spinning Heart to reach the temple wall. Take a left and follow the coin arrows to you reach the corner (if you see a Blue Coin Switch you went the wrong way). Jump on the raised edge away from the center of the stage and head slightly behind the block. There is a vertical line of coins indicating that Mario should wall kick on the back wall and grab the top of the structure where the star is. Star 6: The Rock Spire Head up the swirling Spire that leads to the upper area. Instead of going on the platform with the giant slanted wall, jump up the blocks in front of where Mario climbed from. On top is the star. Sign ''' Another hint to find the Star Temple is located in this temple. This is probably one of the least hidden sign posts as it is in the middle of the giant wall most players are likely to explore. For an easy way to find it, go to where the Exterior Wall star was located and it is against the wall at the bottom of the structure, opposite where the vertical line of coins was located to reach the top. "You can get to the Warp using the Wing Cap." '''Enemies: * Chuckya * Rotating Amp * Chain Chomp * Whomp * Kuromame * Heave-Ho Trivia: * Koopa the Quick makes an odd loop once on top of the slope, making him waste time for no reason. * Koopa the Quick is present and can be raced during all missions besides the first. * There is a random wall textured with yellow Flower Patches, like the found in stages like Bob-omb Battlefield and Whomp's Fortress on one of the corners of the giant wall. * The Whomp King refers to a past encounter, which is most likely the one in his Fortress in the original game. * The Whomp King is replaced with a Chain Chomp in all other missions besides the first. * The clue inst particularly helpful since the Wing Cap is very well hidden in the level the clues are supposed to lead to. ** This also makes another clue that seems to be pointed falsely to The Abyss Category:Location Category:Level Category:SM64 Shining Stars Category:Shining Stars Category:SM64 Shining Stars Location Category:Outer Space Category:Fortress Category:Music-Paper Mario